Continuing economic growth the high level of employment robust earnings increases and the prospect of further interest rate cuts will support housing demand

“Continuing economic growth, the high level of employment, robust earnings increases and the prospect of further interest rate cuts will support housing demand during the coming year.” But he added that the group was not expecting a renewed surge in house price growth as the historically high level of house prices relative to earnings would curb demand, while rises in both council tax and utility bills would increase the total cost of running a home and offset lower mortgage rates. On a regional basis, house price growth looks set to slow most in Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland, where it is still in double digits. In Northern Ireland Halifax expects it to slow from 16 per cent during 2005 to just 5 per cent, while in Wales it will ease from 14 per cent to 3 per cent and in Scotland it will drop from 10 per cent to 7 per cent. Price gains will remain subdued in the South, with no change predicted for East Anglia, while in the South West prices will edge ahead by just 1 per cent and they will rise by only 2 per cent in the South East.

Halifax said this would help to further narrow the north/south price divide, predicting the average property in the South would cost 1.5 time more than one in the north by the end of 2006, compared with 1.6 times more now.. For more than a decade now, Dave Grohl has made an unlikely journey to front a group that has allowed him to move on from Nirvana’s tragic end. Away from Kurt Cobain’s searing emotional drama, he has developed a feisty style that is less complicated, though still emotionally engaged. The Foo Fighters’ current album, In Your Honour, marks a nifty departure, with one disc containing taut melodies and nippy hooks, and the other dedicated to acoustic balladry.
From the outset he was an entertainer. During an extended take on “Stacked Actor”, he ran out to the mixing desk so he could perform a call-and-response solo for the crowd at the back. Such a gesture, alongside his sprints to both sides of the stage, were as important as giant video screens and an impressive battery of lasers. Not that the singer was a complete clown.He performed with startling intensity, letting out hair-raising screams and playing with a demented grin as if he was all too aware he turns 37 next month.

Especially compelling was the needling riffs and angry vulnerability of “Times Like These”, a song Grohl reclaimed from George Bush’s electoral campaign. The Foos have stacked up many such anthems over five albums, and current material slotted in well.Most of the band’s opening spell came from Honour, with their extra metallic thrust thrillingly apparent on “No Way Back”. In contrast, “Best of You” was all Bon Jovi populism with its big-lunged chorus. It became noticeable at this point how few classic longhairs there were among a fresh-faced audience.With an acoustic tour mooted for next year, the gig’s quiet section consisted of only one number from Honour’s disc two, “Cold Day in the Sun”. Grohl and the drummer, Taylor Hawkins, swapped roles, the former reminding us of the attack he brought to his old group, while Hawkins showed a penchant for delicate melodies It was something Grohl himself has yet to master. His more conversational vocals, especially on “Generator”, were lost amid its thrashing guitars.”Breakout” was part of a succession of anonymous, stodgy rockers midway through their set, though more apparent was the Foos’ ability to work in a limited field.

While Cobain sought spontaneity and needed to exorcise inner demons, Grohl’s aim was a fun show that expressed finding hope in desperate times In which case, his time is definitely now.. Work on turning the redundant Museum of the Moving Image in London into a revamped, extended home for the National Film Theatre is to start next month after delays of more than a year. The £4.5m project to refurbish the NFT on the South Bank, which is run by the British Film Institute, is due to be completed by autumn in time for the 50th anniversary of the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival. The work was originally expected to be completed this summer but was delayed because of problems with funding. Announcing the new timetable yesterday, Amanda Nevill, the BFI’s director, said the aim was to use the refurbished NFT as a “pilot” or ” stepping stone” to the creation of a state-of-the-art film centre. “This development is an important step forward in testing our vision for a national landmark building for the celebration of film,” she said. But she said the BFI was still in limbo over long-term plans for what was once touted as the world’s most sophisticated film centre.